Today is the last day of Term Three.
It has been a very busy term, with lots of learning goals achieved and fun activities experienced by the students.
These tagxedos, made by Olivia and Jessica, show some of the activities and learning topics we covered this term.
Happy holidays!
We return to school on Monday 7th October.
Reading is a big part of our day in 4KM and 4KJ.
We use the CAFE model in our Literacy Block every day. Each week we focus on a different CAFE reading strategy in class. CAFE is an acronym for Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency and Expand vocabulary. All of these areas of reading are extremely important and good readers know they need to read regularly to improve their skills.
Last week our reading strategy was Tune Into Interesting Words. This strategy is part of the expand vocabulary area of reading. Good readers have a great vocabulary, which means they know and understand the meaning of lots of different words.
Tune in to interesting words means you stop and think about words that are new, different or unusual while you read.
Knowing what these words mean helps you in all areas of literacy, as it improves your comprehension while reading and you can use the interesting words in your writing. Understanding interesting words also helps you with your speaking and listening.
Miss Jordan looked through some books on her bookshelf at home and found lots of interesting words. She used Tagxedo to create a word cloud to share the words.
We would love to know what words you have come across when reading. Submit an interesting word you have noticed during reading into our AnswerGarden below.
The students in 4KM and 4KJ have enjoyed getting to know each other over the past couple of weeks. Yesterday, they used Tagxedo to create a word cloud on their netbooks. Their word clouds demonstrated something about themselves or something they’re interested in.
Word clouds are a fun way to present words. Tagxedo allows the students to be really creative; they can customise the font, colour, layout and shape of their word cloud. The more frequent a word, the larger it appears.
Here are some Tagxedo word clouds from 4KM and 4KJ students.
Meg
Mitchell C
Ella
Claudia
Ryley H
Jess
Thanks to Miss Mckeegan and Miss Smith for helping the students learn about Tagxedo.
‘The Violent Volcano’ http://www.flickr.com/photos/95572727@N00/3534586145
A natural disaster is generally caused by something happening in nature, such as the weather. Unfortunately, natural disasters can cause serious injuries and destroy many things.
It’s important to learn about natural disasters so you can find out what to do if they happen. This is information you can share with other people too. Being prepared for natural disasters can save lives. It’s also interesting to learn about why natural disasters happen and develop our understanding of science and geography.
We have been doing some reading this week to find out some background information about natural disasters. We look forward to working on some projects and activities throughout the next month to develop our understanding.
Today the 4KM students learnt how to use Tagxedo and created a word cloud demonstrating what they think of when they hear the term “natural disasters”.
Tip: click on the full screen button to make viewing easier.
After a busy eleven weeks in 4KM and 4KJ, everyone is looking forward to our two week holiday break!
We have had a terrific Term Two, full of learning and fun. The Tagxedo word cloud below is a snapshot of the last couple of months in 4KM and 4KJ.
Bike Ed has certainly been a highlight of our term. Everyone enjoyed learning about the road rules, practising their riding skills and demonstrating safe riding behaviours out on the road.
Next term will be exciting, as we have our Grade Four camp happening in week three! This will be the first school camp for all students and it will give us a chance to practise our riding skills in the town of Maldon. We are also looking forward to studying The Olympics and Natural Disasters. We can’t wait to share all of our Term Three adventures with you!
Happy holidays!
We’ll be back on Monday 16th July.